May Sarton
May Sarton | |
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Born | Eleanore Marie Sarton May 3, 1912 Wondelgem, Belgium |
Died | July 16, 1995 York, Maine, US | (aged 83)
Resting place | Nelson, New Hampshire |
Occupation |
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Nationality | Belgian, American |
Genre | Fiction, poetry, non-fiction, children's literature |
Partner | Judith "Judy" Matlack |
May Sarton was the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton[1] (May 3, 1912 – July 16, 1995), a Belgian-American novelist, poet, and memoirist. Although her best work is strongly personalised with erotic female imagery, she resisted the label of ‘lesbian writer’, preferring to convey the universality of human love.
Biography
Sarton was born in
One year later, they moved to
Sarton won a scholarship to
When she was nineteen, Sarton traveled to Europe, living in Paris for a year. In this time, she met such literary and cultural figures as Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bowen, Julian Huxley and Juliette Huxley, Lugné-Pöe, Basil de Sélincourt, and S. S. Koteliansky. Sarton had affairs with both of the Huxleys.[4] It was within this environment and community that she published her first novel, The Single Hound (1938).[3]
In 1945 in
Sarton later moved to
She died of breast cancer on July 16, 1995, and is buried in Nelson Cemetery, Nelson, New Hampshire.[10]
Works and themes
May Sarton wrote 53 books, including 19 novels, 17 books of poetry, 15 nonfiction works, 2 children's books, a play, and additional screenplays.[11][12] According to The Poetry Foundation, Sarton's style as defined by critics is "calm, cultured, and urbane."[11] In much of her writing, Sarton maintains a politically conscious lens, but what is considered May Sarton's best and most enduring work lies in her journals and memoirs, particularly Plant Dreaming Deep (about her early years at Nelson, ca. 1958–68), Journal of a Solitude (1972-1973, often considered her best), The House by the Sea (1974-1976), Recovering (1978-1979) and At Seventy (1982-1983). In these fragile, rambling and honest accounts of her solitary life, she deals with such issues as aging, isolation, solitude, friendship, love and relationships, lesbianism, self-doubt, success and failure, envy, gratitude for life's simple pleasures, love of nature (particularly of flowers), the changing seasons, spirituality and, importantly, the constant struggles of a creative life. Sarton's later journals are not of the same quality, as she endeavored to keep writing through ill health and by dictation.
Although many of her earlier works, such as Encounter in April, contain vivid erotic female imagery, May Sarton often emphasized in her journals that she didn't see herself as a "lesbian" writer: "The vision of life in my work is not limited to one segment of humanity...and has little to do with sexual proclivity".
Margot Peters' controversial authorized biography (1998) revealed May Sarton as a complex individual who often struggled in her relationships.[15] Peters' book was often scathing ("People who had the misfortune to become her intimates almost universally came to regret it. On the slightest of pretexts, Ms. Peters has it, Sarton subjected them to 'terrible scenes, nights of weeping, rages, blowups.' She was expert at emotional blackmail, and behaved badly in restaurants. Self-absorbed and insensitive, May Sarton wooed others with extravagant attentions, only to betray and humiliate them later -- 'with scant regard,' Ms. Peters observes, 'for the chaos left in her wake.'"[16]), but the biography was considered "thoughtful, even-handed, [and] well-written."[17] A selected edition of Sarton's letters was edited by Susan Sherman in 1997[4] and many of Sarton's papers are held in the New York Public Library.[18]
Bibliography
Poetry books
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Nonfiction
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Novels
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Children's books
Play
Letters
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References
- ^ a b Poets, Academy of American. "About May Sarton | Academy of American Poets". poets.org. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
- ^ a b May Sarton: A Poet Archived February 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Harvard Square Library.
- ^ a b "May Sarton: A Poet's Life". digital.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ^ )
- ^ "May Sarton, Novelist, Poet, and Memoirist | LiteraryLadiesGuide". Literary Ladies Guide. June 2, 2018. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
- ^ Pobo, Kenneth (2002). "Sarton, May". Chicago. Chicago: glbtq, Inc. Archived from the original on August 15, 2007. Retrieved August 29, 2007.
- ^ "May Sarton". Unitarian Universalist Historical Society.
- ^ "Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter S" (PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
- ^ "May Sarton: A Poet's Life". digital.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ^ "May Sarton". Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Retrieved May 10, 2009.
- ^ a b "May Sarton". Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation. November 30, 2018. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ "May Sarton Selected Bibliography". digital.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved November 30, 2018.
- ^ Sarton, May (1992). Journal of a Solitude. WW Norton & Company.
- ^ Journal of a Solitude, 1973, pp. 90-91.
- OCLC 39440918.
- ^ Goreau, Angeline. Late Bloomer. The New York Times. April 6, 1997. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
- ^ May Sarton: A Biography. Kirkus Reviews. February 15, 1997. Retrieved August 28, 2021.
- ^ "archives.nypl.org -- May Sarton Papers". archives.nypl.org. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
External links
- Karen Saum (Fall 1983). "May Sarton, The Art of Poetry No. 32". The Paris Review. Fall 1983 (89).
- "May Sarton," Poetry Foundation.
- May Sarton Collection, University of New England, Portland, Maine.
- "May Sarton Shrine". Language is a Virus.
- "May Sarton: A Poet's Life". University of Pennsylvania.
- "About May Sarton". Goodale Hill Press.
- "May Sarton". Find A Grave
- Guide to the May Sarton Collection 1950-1954 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center